Manual for Survival in a Strange World

“Be careful of Gu Yunqing?” Feng Yushu cautiously lowered her head to glance at the two corpses lying by the riverbank, then met Ye Miaozhu’s gaze. The two exchanged looks, both stunned.

Ye Miaozhu’s chest flared with an unnamed fury: “Gu Yunqing died right in front of me—how should I be careful?”

“Xie Sining is dead too. She even called Auntie. What do you think we should have done?” Ning Zhe raised his hand and took Feng Yushu’s phone, saying, “Two minutes. Prove you’re Zhang Yangxu and not something else. Time’s ticking.”

The line on the other end fell silent.

Gu Yunqing’s body still lay on the laundry slope by the river, and her wristwatch hadn’t malfunctioned despite being submerged—it continued to tick away, the second hand jerking in its circle, the transparent time dripping away in measured drops.

“One minute,” Ning Zhe said.

The phone remained silent, with only the evening wind rustling through the clothes. Ning Zhe glanced down at the time: “One minute, twenty seconds.”

“The demolition contracts for the land where your family’s old residence is located come in three versions,” Ye Miaozhu interjected.

At one minute and forty-seven seconds, the voice of Zhang Yangxu finally came through the speaker.

“Version A: After demolition, the residents can receive three times the area of their original residence in a designated housing complex, with any leftover area compensated at a discount.”

“Version B: A lump sum cash compensation.”

“Version C: The residents can choose a home close to the area of their original residence within a range specified by the developer, plus some cash compensation.”

Ning Zhe responded with a hum: “That’s right, I came back to check the compensation contracts. My grandparents can’t read, so I’m afraid they’ll be tricked.”

But then he shifted the tone of the conversation: “But that’s not enough to prove you’re Zhang Yangxu. How about telling me something I don’t know?”

In fact, what Zhang Yangxu had said was already enough to verify his identity, but Ning Zhe felt it wasn’t sufficient. He wanted to confirm a guess he’d been mulling over.

“You won’t be able to sign the B version contract,” Zhang Yangxu’s voice was calm. “The large cash compensation is the most difficult to get of the three, and the B-version contracts are the fewest. Even before the bidding started, the large cash compensation contracts were already decided through various channels. You had no chance.”

“Ha, you bank robbers didn’t even buy your balaclavas and stockings, yet you’ve already divvied up the loot,” Ning Zhe clapped mockingly. “Go on, Mr. Zhang, why should I be careful of Gu Yunqing?”

“We’ll talk face to face.”

“Okay.”

The meeting place Zhang Yangxu suggested was still the street in front of the ancestral hall. After witnessing two bizarre deaths, both Feng Yushu and Ning Zhe were on high alert around this area, but Ye Miaozhu seemed indifferent.

“We don’t go now, we’ll have to go eventually,” she said. “After today, tomorrow’s taboos will change. Are you still not going to consult the almanac for the ancestral hall?”

Her reasoning made sense, but her indifferent attitude still surprised Ning Zhe. After all, if a person wasn’t afraid of death, what else was there to fear?

Lunar April 23, 02:33 AM.

Ning Zhe arrived at the south street of Hejia Village, where the clan’s ancestral hall, dedicated to the Serpent God, was located. Zhang Yangxu was already waiting at the entrance.

Feng Yushu, unwilling, trailed behind Ning Zhe and Ye Miaozhu. Her temperament was naturally weak, and after learning that Xie Sining, who had been with Zhang Yangxu, was dead, she was even more fearful. No matter what, she refused to re-enter the ancestral hall at this time.

Ning Zhe didn’t force her to follow. He simply said, “Look after yourself,” and walked ahead with Ye Miaozhu.

In the end, the fear of being left alone outweighed everything else, and Feng Yushu reluctantly caught up a few steps behind.

As the trio approached the ancestral hall, Feng Yushu finally relaxed when she saw Zhang Yangxu standing alone at the entrance with no one else in sight.

“Hey, where’s Xie Sining?” Ning Zhe waved and asked.

Zhang Yangxu smiled bitterly: “You know the answer.”

“I see. Then, congratulations on making it out alive.” Ning Zhe nodded knowingly. “So, how did you survive that thing?”

Zhang Yangxu didn’t rush to explain. The group first verified each other’s identities before Zhang Yangxu asked, “First, I need to confirm something. Madam Bai called me earlier and mentioned that you all saw something by the river… Was it Sining?”

“Yes,” Ning Zhe confirmed. “We found Xie Sining’s body in the river.”

Zhang Yangxu sighed in relief, closing his eyes. “I see… Alright, then let’s exchange information. I’ll go first.”

At the entrance of the ancestral hall, Zhang Yangxu began recounting the events from when he and Xie Sining left the hall until now.

After Feng Yushu’s reminder call was cut off midway, Zhang Yangxu was filled with confusion.

At 12:30 AM, Zhang Yangxu and Xie Sining left the ancestral hall and walked upstream along the river. The quiet road showed no signs of abnormality, except for a few scattered pieces of red paper in front of some homes. These were remnants from firecrackers, as many had been set off in Hejia Village the previous day.

After walking for a while, Xie Sining suddenly looked troubled and told Zhang Yangxu that she needed to relieve herself.

Because of the differences between men and women’s biological needs, Zhang Yangxu didn’t press her. He leaned against a willow tree by the riverbank to give her some privacy. After she was done, they continued walking upstream.

Zhang Yangxu and Xie Sining then headed north to the central area of Hejia Village.

As they traveled further north, they noticed that the red firecracker paper became more dense, covering the street like a blanket of scattered flowers, as if someone were being sent off, or perhaps some celebration was underway.

From a distance, Zhang Yangxu spotted a grand and ancient mansion. Its main gate alone was over three meters high, and its walls were over five meters tall. Zhang Yangxu was always good at estimating the height, angle, area, and orientation of buildings.

The mansion’s door was adorned with large, elegant calligraphy on a black background: “He Mansion.”

Seeing that they were already more than halfway past the hour-and-a-half meeting time, Zhang Yangxu decided not to enter the mansion to explore further but chose to return to the ancestral hall first and discuss with Ning Zhe and the others.

The two walked back along the street covered in red paper, casually chatting.

It was then that Zhang Yangxu received a call from Feng Yushu. In a tone filled with extreme fear, she warned him to be careful of Xie Sining, telling him that she and Ning Zhe had seen something by the river. But before she could finish, the call was abruptly cut off.

“After the call was cut off, I immediately thought about how Xie Sining and I had stopped by the river on our way to He Mansion. If Feng Yushu’s call wasn’t a joke, then it must mean something happened to Sining while I was waiting for her to relieve herself.”

“What happened by the river led to her death, and her identity was replaced by something else.”

Zhang Yangxu finally said, “Ning Zhe, that river is definitely suspicious.”

“No, there’s nothing wrong with the river,” Ning Zhe shrugged. “Xie Sining’s death by the river might have other causes, but it’s probably not directly related to the river itself.”